Stent implantation via percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a popular coronary revascularization procedure for patients with atherosclerosis. Various stent types have been designed to improve the efficacy of stent treatment. Extensive preclinical and clinical studies are needed to evaluate these newly developed stent designs. For example, every year, hundreds of thousands of patients with coronary artery diseases in the U.S. are treated with intra-vascular stents. Improper deployment of stents and resulting tissue responses are associated with stent thrombosis, which can be a life-threatening complication. Intravascular optical coherence tomography (IVOCT) is a catheter-based optical imaging technique and is able to image the depth-resolved 3-D profile of coronary arteries with high resolution. IVOCT has demonstrated significant advantages in strut coverage analysis due to better resolution and contrast compared to the alterative technology, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS).
With its resolution, contrast, and imaging speed, IVOCT has been used in in vivo assessment of fine lumen architectures and stent tissue coverage after stent implantation. Currently, IVOCT image analysis is primarily done manually, requiring 6-12 hours per stent. In addition, inter- and intra-observer variability is inevitable in manual analysis. Recent publications based on manual stent analysis suggest a need of improved stent analysis tools.